Julian Davies Wins the 2015 GUKPT Cardiff Main Event

Julian Davis is the latest player to win a coveted Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) title after he took down the 2015 edition of the Cardiff Main Event.

The final day’s play started with only nine players in contention for the £30,000 first place prize and with Owain “sngwonder” Carey holding almost twice as many chips as any of the other eight players. The shortest stack, Kyle Hyman, sat down with less than 10 big blinds and these ended up in the middle almost as soon as play resumed on Sunday.

2015 GUKPT Cardiff Main Event Final Table

Seat

Player

Chips

1

Julian Davies

248,500

2

Owain Carey

968,000

3

Rais Khan

426,000

4

Bashir Ahmed

159,000

5

Dan Owston

368,000

6

Joe Keegans

560,000

7

Joanne Ramsden

282,000

8

Kyle Hyman

78,000

9

Greg Barratt

330,500

Joanne Ramsden opened the betting with and then called the extra 60,000 when Hyman three-bet all-in with . The flop kept Hyman’s jacks in front, but the landed on the turn to improve Ramsden to the best hand. The was the river card and Hyman headed to the cashier’s desk to collect ninth place money.

As the clocks struck 1:00pm, Greg Barratt raised to 17,500 and Rais Khan called. Bashir Ahmed was in the small blind and he squeezed all-in for 170,000 only to see Barratt re-shove. Khan showed as he folded, leaving the of Ahmed to go up against the of Barratt.

Neither players really connected with the flop, then Barratt paired his jack on the turn. Barrett looked set for a timely double-up until Ahmed caught a two-outer on the river when the made an appearance. Game over for Barratt.

Shortly after Barratt’s demise, a tournament defining hand took place between Carey and fellow big stack Joe Keegans. A preflop raising was saw Carey five-bet all-in with and Keegans call with . Although no jack appeared on the board, there were four hearts out there and Keegans became an overwhelming chip leader and Carey dropped to around 25 big blinds and had to begin rebuilding.

Dan Owston was the next to fall in a clash with Khan. The flop read , Khan moved all-in and Owston called off his remaining 200,000 chips, turning over as he did so. Those kings were cracked by the of Khan who had flopped a flush and when the turn and river came and it was the end of the road of Owston.

Owston’s seat hadn’t even gone cold when Ahmed bust in sixth place. Ahmed raised to 25,000 and then called off his stack when Carey jammed all-in on him. Ahmed turned over and Carey . This time, Carey’s overpair held as the five community cards rolled off to send Ahmed to the rail.

Five hours passed without an elimination then local legend Khan crashed out. Carey opened from the button and then called when Khan re-raised from the small blind. The pair watched on as the dealer spread the flop, Khan moved all-in and Carey went into the tank for a few minutes before emerging with a call.

Khan showed and Carey the . A on the river was the and Khan started to celebrate hitting a straight, not realising that Carey had the nuts. Carey climbed to 1.3 million chips, Khan fell to a handful of big blinds and bust on the very next hand.

Joanne Ramsden fell in fourth place meaning the wait for a female GUKPT Main Event champion continues. Ramsden had been short-stacked for a while and finally committed her chips with only to run into the of Davies. An ace-friendly board reading sent Ramsden to the rail and left only three players in the tournament.

Those three became two when Keegans pushed all-in for 450,000 at the 15,000/30,000/3,000a level with what turned out to be and Carey called with the . Like Ramsden before him, Keegans’ fours couldn’t hold as the dealer fanned the board to send the tournament into the heads-up stage.

Carey went into the heads-up battle holding 2,248,000 to Davies’ 1,174,000 but Davies clawed his way back. The heads-up duo then paused the tournament and thrashed out a deal that saw Carey lock up £24,500 with Davies taking £24,000 and leaving the trophy and an additional £1,000 for the eventual champion.

The final hand took place shortly before 11:00 pm and saw all of the chips go in preflop, Carey holding and needing some help from the board because Davies held . That help never arrived as the five community cards fell , Carey bust and Davies was announced as the 2015 GUKPT Cardiff champion.

2015 GUKPT Cardiff Main Event Final Table Results

Place

Player

Prize

1

Julian Davies

£25,000*

2

Owain Carey

£24,000*

3

Joe Keegans

£12,500

4

Joanne Ramsden

£8,400

5

Rais Khan

£5,800

6

Bash Ahmed

£4,200

7

Dan Owston

£3,300

8

Greg Barratt

£2,800

9

Kyle Hyman

£2,500

*reflects a heads-up deal

Next up for the GUKPT is a trip to Reading between June 21-28 at the Grosvenor Casino Reading South on Rose Kiln Lane. As always, the best place to qualify for this event is at Grosvenor Poker where if you download via PokerNews, you can claim a 100% match up to £500 first deposit bonus.

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